In the Shadow of the Willows
by Cheddar the Cheese
Summary: BtVS/HP/LotR the books Slash! Willow left Sunnydale and now her son is going to Hogwarts but a great evil is brewing it's going to take a few friends for any of them to stop it. AU for all three
1. A walk in the rain

Title: In the Shadow of the Willows  
  
Prologue: A walk with the rain  
  
By: Cheddar  
  
A/n: Just know that this fic will be Slash. Don't bitch if you have a problem with it because I don't care. Thanks to my beta: Danish Pastry  
  
The room was dark as Albus listened to the pen scratch its way across the page. He was writing names for that year's new students. By the light of his candle he glanced up to read the newest name. There it was. Just under the bright green inked name of 'Weasley, Harlen' was a new name written in a green ink so dark it was black. Seth Wiles. There was nothing extraordinary about the name its self but it was the color that struck Albus' notice.  
  
The pen wrote down the name of every magical child born in England and its surrounding areas. The colour or shade of the ink determined how much power each child held in his or her potential. The average witch or wizard was written in bright green, with near squibs in a pale green, and the most powerful written in black. Only two people had ever had their names written in black so far as the old wizard could remember. Tom Riddle and Harry Potter. He would have to keep and eye in this Seth Wiles... and make sure he came to Hogwarts.  
  
***  
  
New Orleans was a party city. One he'd always hoped to some day visit but never had. Always with one thing or another he'd never had the chance. As a human he'd never given the place a second thought but as a vampire, the city was very well known for how friendly it was to such creatures. It was the one place a vampire could truly disappear in. So when that whole gang back in Sunnyhell had broken up like a clump of mud in water, Spike set out. It was the first time he could ever remember being completely free.  
  
So then why was he so lonely? Here he was in a city he'd always wanted to see with more money than an average man could hope for and yet he hated it. There was no one to share it with. But even that didn't really bother him. There were people here like no place else on earth. He could find a person to share it with but...  
  
The city poured around him in warm spring rain, with people dancing and partying around him, Spike was completely alone. Sure, he might find some girl that looked like her... He could talk to her... But she'd be gone in the morning and the pain wouldn't be. And there was little he could do now. None of that old gang was left any more. They'd blown away like leaves in autumn. So why did he want to go back so badly?  
  
No, going back was the coward's way out. Or the brave man's. Neither of which Spike was. He was a loyal man... Loyal to himself... Loyal to those he loved... But he always ended up failing the ones he was loyal to.  
  
So he stayed in New Orleans letting himself get attached to no one. He would show no loyalty or weakness. He would live a no man's life for a while. Let the city swallow him whole. See if it took to him. See if it took him any place better than that heart-screwing, soul-baring thing called love had.  
  
***  
  
Ron Weasley knew that his son wasn't the first child ever born to a man and a woman but the sight of his son, pink and wrinkled though he was, felt like it might be. Harlen Weasley was his first son and young though the child was, Ron had his whole future planned out.  
  
He'd go to Hogwarts. Become friends with wonderful people. Break every rule he could without getting expelled and just live life much the way his very happy father had. It went without saying that the boy would be in Gryffindor like Ron and Lavender had.  
  
But Little Harlen knew nothing of these great plans. For while Ron watch his child take in the world, he couldn't help but wonder what his own best friend was doing just then. He hadn't seen Harry Potter in two months now. After they'd graduated, Harry had gone off to play Qudditch for England but after five years, he'd disappeared. The search for their great hero had united the wizarding world but not a trace of him could be found. But Ron knew he wasn't dead.  
  
Could a hero ever really die?  
  
*** No one called him Oz anymore. Now he was known as the Wolf. Daniel to those in the village. But here in the mountains with his mentor and the others, he was Wolf. Oz seemed a distant memory or dream now instead of what once was. Here, high in the Tibetan Mountains, Wolf worked with these men he had come to call his brothers.  
  
They showed him the ways of the wizarding world with its curses and charms while he told them of life with slayers and demons. After that long ago night when he'd though he had the control to return to Sunnydale, he'd come back here and completely disappeared into the Wolf. He'd lost himself completely in his work to find the final cure.  
  
Now, taking a deep breath, Wolf inhaled the deeply unnerving scent of the brew before him. A potion he knew little of but he cared little about that. Would this one work where so many others had failed? Praying, he drank the foul stuff down and before it had the chance to burn his throat, his mind was off. Meditating. Praying. Concentrating. Hoping... Hope that it would work. Because werewolves mate for life... humans don't.  
  
***  
  
Two months and already it seemed like a lifetime ago that he'd been a carefree young man playing Quidditch with friends and watching as Ron and Lavender got ready for the birth of their child. But then it had changed.  
  
He remembered it all so well. The rain fell that night much as it did this night. The man cloaked in shadows had approached him. "Do you know, Mr. Potter that since you have chosen to step down from your place as champion of evil one hundred and twenty six people have lost their lives to the remaining Dark Forces?" The man had known just what would catch his attention. Damn his noble Gryffindor heart. It had only been a matter of days before he was dropping off the face of the earth to once more fight the good fight.  
  
And why? He still didn't know. But it was his new life. No way out. As the rain fell heavy on his head, he tracked his prey through the wet streets of hell.  
  
***  
  
He should have been happy. And Xander knew it. His new company in Austin, Texas had just struck oil a few miles south of the City. He was rich in the space of only a few hours but after the first wave of drunken shock had rolled off him, he reverted back to the man he'd been living these past few months since he'd left Sunnydale. The man who had lost his friends and family all within the space of a year. They'd been flung about the earth. And he didn't know the wheres or whys of it.  
  
So here he sat at his big empty desk in his big empty office of his dark building while the rain threatened to pound the glass from the window... wanting nothing more than to be the child he'd been just months before.  
  
***  
  
They'd kissed. And it wasn't that Buffy was against kissing, she wasn't, but she was against watching this. Angel slid his hands around Cordeilia's back and up her back as he drew her towards him. Neither knew of Buffy watching from the shadows. She didn't want them to. Without a word she turned around and walked back out into the pouring rain going back to where she had come from. Once more alone  
  
TBC...............? Tell me! v v v V 


	2. 11 years later

Chapter One: Eleven years later  
  
Ashley ~ My first review! I'm so glad you like it!  
  
Kenny Gajos ~ You find out what happened with Hermione in this chapter (Kinda). Hope you won't be too upset with me for it though... And Ron and Lavender: I don't know why they got together. When I was writing this, it just seemed right.  
  
Lisette ~ The Scoobies got torn apart after season six on Buffy. Sorry I didn't mention that earlier. And no one ever said they were getting back together! I'm shocked! I never write what people expect. Trust me... Oh, and as to the timeline: Sorry that wasn't so clear. It's been five years since they graduated and two months since Harry disappeared. Good news! You find out about Herm in this chapter...  
  
Witchy-grrl ~ Hmm... I wonder... Could it be.... Buffy? Gasp! I hope that's the only predicable thing in this story! I don't write happy go lucky stories so you may not find every one all smiles in this.  
  
To everyone else who reviewed: Thank you so much!  
  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own it so stop asking me!  
  
A/N: Warning! this story contains Slash. That means same sex relationships. More to the point, girl/girl relationships. It's not a big part of the plot but it's there. Don't bitch about it. If this offends you, get lost. Don't go screaming at me from your moral high ground that homosexuality in children's books is sick and wrong. This isn't the books... It's call fanfiction... And don't go shoving religion in my face either: I'm atheist. I don't care. Thanks to Danish Pastry for beta-ing this for me.  
  
Also, This takes place five years after the trio graduates and 13 years after season six on Buffy. Willow went evil and all that but Tara never died. She just go so carried away with the magic that when Tara was shot she only thought she was dead. Tara was fine but Willow never knew that. Confused? I'll explain it all later.  
  
In Other news today if you want an update by e-mail for when this story is updated please leave your e-mail address in the review and I'll send you a notice when I update this fic.  
  
Happy reading!  
  
***  
  
Harlen Weasley bounded down the stairs of his family's home with the energy that only an eleven year-old could muster at six in the morning. His mother glared at him over her cup as he jumped the last few steps rocking her china in its' cupboard behind her. The tiny earthquake also dislodged a wooden candle stick holder from its dangerous position on the top of the cabinet behind her and with a wave of magic the offending object was forced back against the wall where it would hopefully stay.  
  
Then she smiled at her son who beamed back at her. Lavender couldn't suppress a laugh at her son's good mood. Just then Ron decided to enter the room. He too wore a broad grin and a laughing twinkle in his eyes. It only succeeded in making everyone smile just a little bigger. And so there they all sat grinning like fools as an old owl the size of a very small something or other came slamming into the kitchen by way of the closed window. With a wave of magic, Ron noted that Pig had grown no less excited in his old age but his eyesight seem to fail even more each day. But cookies for trying, that's for damn sure.  
  
Harlen jumped at the letter but Ron watched in amusement as Lavender snatched it from his hand. "It's not for you," she said opening it. "It's from Hermione." Harlen slumped against his chair looking pointedly at his father.  
  
"You should tell your friends not to write here when I'm expecting mail. It makes a boy confused!"  
  
Ron laughed. Lavender handed him the letter already telling him what it said.  
  
"She says 'hello.' She and Jessica may stop in for a visit later." Ron smiled. He was happy for her. Hermione's being gay had shocked him like nothing else but once he was over it he saw how happy she was and couldn't imagine her any other way now. That added to Hermione's success as a writer in both the Muggle and wizarding worlds made her one of the happiest people he'd ever known.  
  
And that's when the Hogwarts' owl decided to fly through the window. Harlen pounced on the poor bird who seemed to be expecting it and lazily dropped the letter and leaped aside. Ron watched his son tear the letter open with a huge grin and a bright red face. "Mum! Dad! I got into Hogwarts!"  
  
***  
  
He was cold. Not that it was cold out, mind you, but Seth's mum liked to have the air conditioner in the car turned up as high it would go. Shivering down in his seat, Seth watched as the boring London suburbs slid past his window, on their way to pick up his sister from her ballet class. Mrs. Wiles hummed along with the song on the radio up in the front seat.  
  
Seth loved her voice. Her accent was pure American and to Seth that made her like a wild rose in a field of weeds. So exotic... Different.  
  
But there was always something about her that he couldn't place. A darkness in her happy demeanor. Something the young man never saw but deep inside he knew it was there. The reason she had left her life in California to come here and love his father and his sister and him.  
  
"What'cha thinking' about back there?" she asked him. Her voice broke the stolid silence.  
  
"Nothing." He smiled at the look on her face as she watched the road with a resolve he didn't know was required to drive.  
  
"You're just so quiet tonight," she said with a laugh. "Come up front here," she smiled. Seth scrambled over the seat and settled in the seat next to her with a grin. She laughed softly. "That's better."  
  
"Mum?" Seth asked after a moment. "Why'd you move here?"  
  
She wavered a second before the smile was back. "I just couldn't stay there any more. There was nothing there for me any more." And Seth knew the conversation was over.  
  
The rest of the drive to the dance studio went smoothly but without comment. By the time they had arrived, the class was over and Michele came bounding out of the tiny studio with her slippers in her hands and her hair flying out of the bun her mother had worked so hard on two hours before.  
  
Glaring at her brother in the front seat, she climbed in the back prattling on about some new step she'd learned.  
  
"It's called an assemblè! And I got it right on my third try! Jenny says if the whole class can learn it we can do it in the Christmas show." And she blabbered on and on. Seth looked at his mother who was smiling softly at her daughter's excitement. But there was nothing to suggest that the conversation earlier had even happened.  
  
At home, the three of them piled out of the car with Michele dropping her shoes on the pavement and then suddenly realizing that she'd left her bag at the studio.  
  
"We'll get it tomorrow, dear. Now pick those up and go inside."  
  
"But I don't have class tomorrow!" she whined.  
  
Trying to soothe the girl, Mrs. Wiles missed her husband bursting out of the front door in a state of near panic.  
  
"Thank God you're home!"  
  
Glancing up from the distraught dancer she looked at him. "Jonathan! What's wrong?"  
  
He didn't answer but grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the house with the children following. Michele had stopped crying to see what was going on. Mr. Wiles was explaining in rushed words that there was an old man inside claiming that magic was real! Can you imagine?  
  
Inside they found a very old man sitting on their not so pristine couch drinking tea from a mug of their mother's that read, 'Kiss the Librarian'. Seth wanted to laugh at the whole thing but held back when he saw his mother's face. She believed this man!  
  
"Lemon drop?" she offered him offering him the bowl on the table next to her.  
  
"Yes! Thank you." With a child's excitement he helped himself. "Mmm... There's nothing quite like a lemon drop." Mrs. Wiles smiled.  
  
"How can we help you this evening Mr...?"  
  
"Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore. I was just telling your husband that magic exists and having a very hard time of it, too, I might add. But now that I've met you, I see that my visit here is uncalled for."  
  
She blushed. What was going on here Seth wondered.  
  
"Oh, I haven't... Not in a long time."  
  
The man smiled.  
  
"But it isn't you I'm here to see. It's him." He was pointing right at Seth himself and the boy listened with wide eyes as the man began to explain about magic and a place... a school... called Hogwarts...  
  
***  
  
He'd found it. After thirteen years of searching and at last he'd found it! Wolf was a wolf no longer...or at least almost. He'd found a potion that could stop him from changing at the full moon. Even now his brothers at the monastery celebrated his success in the other room with all the things they'd given up so long ago.  
  
As he set about carrying out his mentor's advice as to what to do with the information, Oz had a light heart and a smile. Scribbling out a message that he hoped would be readable in his haste to write he it, he thought of all that this could do for him. All he could reclaim. Then, tying it to the owl who would carry it for him he told it, "the ministry for the cure of incurable illnesses," and watched as he flew away into the night before rejoining the party.  
  
But as he celebrated, Oz had no way of knowing that the ministry would not share his happiness.  
  
"We cannot let this get out!" the head of the department said to his men. "Do any of you have any idea how this would undermine the ministry? We have to get rid of the evidence."  
  
"Sir, if I may? I think I might know a way."  
  
And so it came to pass that the Unspeakable known only as Scar received orders to kill the man that would be coming into the country within the next few days.  
  
"A werewolf," they told him. "He's dangerous. He means to infect as many people as he can to build an army."  
  
And so Harry Potter had waited. As an Unspeakable, no one called him that any more. Only one person knew his true identity and Harry liked it that way. He wasn't sure he could go back and face his past if every one knew what crimes he had committed on the ministry's orders as Scar.  
  
It had all began simply enough. "Stop this or that evil soul." But then things had begun to build. Soon he was known around the halls of the ministry as the 'Hit man' but this was never told to the superiors or to Scar himself but a good spy knows what to listen for. He knew and they didn't know he knew. Which was the way it was supposed to be.  
  
Looking again at the man in the photograph he'd been given, Harry wondered what had happened to make this man so evil. He was young but older than Harry himself. He had brown hair and a shy way about him but his eyes spoke of intelligence that comes from years of study in a library. Not something you'd normally find in a mass murderer or whatever they ministry was trying to make him out to be.  
  
But as he watched this picture, Harry wondered, not for the first time, why it was that he still went along with this. What was he going to achieve by getting this man comfortable and settled in before killing him like a spider trapping it's prey?  
  
Harry looked up just as the man himself walked off the plane. He looked happy about something and clutched a small briefcase to his side. A tune slipped out of his mouth, which Harry vaguely recognized as a Tibetan prayer. Why, this man was no werewolf bent on raising armies of others of his kind. He was a scholar and a priest and, well, he was a werewolf. But that was the only thing that went along with his file.  
  
Harry had seen evil. He could recognize it at a glance but this man wasn't it. So then why did the ministry want him dead? Deciding to follow him and watch him for a while, Harry knew he would find the answer and deep inside, he knew he'd hate what he found.  
  
***  
  
Seth was so confused. Magic? A wizard? Him? Michele too? He looked at his mother who looked almost sick. Why wasn't she happy for him? Why wasn't she acting like Dad who had already planed out his whole future around this new magical world? But Seth shook it off. It'd work out. It always did.  
  
"And I assure you that he will be very well looked after. Nothing can happen to him while he's in my care."  
  
Dad said something unintelligible. Which it appeared Mr. Dumbledore understood.  
  
"Grand! So, We'll be seeing you on September first then won't we, Seth?"  
  
His mother led the wizard to the door. As he walked out, Seth heard him saying to her, " Don't worry, Mrs. Wiles. Please. He'll be perfectly fine. It's better if he's trained. After all, magic is a dangerous thing and we can't all grow up on Hellmouths." 


	3. Home or something like it

Chapter Two: Home or something like it  
  
Dis: I don't own Buffy or Harry Potter. Don't sue me.  
  
A/N: Ok so I'm guessing that people don't really like Hermione being gay because I only got three reviews when I got 13 for the first part so I'm just going to stop this here if every one wants to be stupid about it.  
  
Shellie: Thank you.  
  
Witchy~grrl: I'm glad it doesn't bother you but I forgot to mention that it isn't the same Jonothan as the show. This is jst some random Jonothan. Sorry about the confusion  
  
Thirteen years was a long time. Even for a vampire. And New Orleans was a city hat never seemed to stop moving. Spike was sick of it. He'd told himself that yes, he could wait out his life here but now it was getting to be tiresome. All he wanted now was to go home. But where was home?  
  
One hundred thirty five years ago it had been in England. After that it had been any where there was a slayer for him to track. This had brought him to Sunnydale. It was the one place since his beloved England had he truly been happy. But Sunnydale was over. There was nothing left there any more.  
  
So what happens now? He asked the sky as it stretched endlessly above him. A sky that was black has his very soul but stretched over time and space towards England. And as it stretched further and further away from him it grew lighter and brighter. That was what he missed most of all. Home... Sun light.  
  
Pulling himself up from the bench where he lay, Spike made his way through the Garden District and towards his flat on the other side of the street, he knew what he had to do. He was going home... And England, with its blue skies and bright fields, was home.  
  
***  
  
He knew some one was following him. He'd know it since he'd arrived here in the London airport that there was some one after him. As he made his way through the crowd he kept his eyes open for someone who had not been no his flight but kept popping up. It didn't work. That only really worked in movies any how.  
  
Movies. Huh. If you'd asked him twenty years earlier, Oz would have told you that werewolves only showed up in movies as well. But It was this very fact that had alerted the werewolf to the fact that he was being followed.  
  
As he made his way through customs, he watched the crowd closely. There were a few people that he didn't know had been on the flight but he knew they could have been in first class. The PTB knew that his brothers at the monastery hadn't been able to afford first class for him.  
  
And then to retrieve his bag. Or not. Some how they'd lost his bag. And so he settled in for a long wait as he waited for flight 934 to return from the good old U.S. of A. where it had some how gotten passage.  
  
***  
  
Seth had never seen anything like it. He watched in amazement as his mother disappeared in the green flames that she had told them were entirely harmless. Flooing she'd called it. "I can't say I've ever done it but most normal witches and wizards do it all the time so it must be fine." She'd gone first and taken Michele with her.  
  
"Well, Seth, are you ready?" his father asked him.  
  
"Yeah!" the boy cried excitably.  
  
"Well then, we just get in here like so, and say... what was it again? Oh yes. Diagon Alley!" And in a rush they were off. Seth watched as the other fireplaces flashed past him but closed his eyes against it quickly when finding out just why it so very important to clean the Floo.  
  
But what amazed him even more was the sight that greeted him on his way out. They had ended up in the Floo station that had only recently been installed in the already cramped alley and Seth smiled at his mother and sister. A moment later his father tumbled out behind them and with an air of unwavering confidence his mother led them out into the alley proper.  
  
I shall refrain from describing the alley in all its wondrous detail since you have no doubt heard all about it on numerous occasions ad infindum. Needless to say they visited the bank first to exchange some money and then it off to the wand shop. Both children exclaimed excitedly over every little thing and some of the more pleasant witches and wizards smiled at them and their antics as the raced each other from one shop to the next. And that's not to say that Mr. and Mrs. Wiles were any better. They were simply more restrained.  
  
Upon entering into Olivander's, the first thing that Seth noticed was s sign above the desk reading "Olivander's can not be held accountable for the actions of the users of wands sold herein." Seth didn't get it but his mother smiled a grim smile at it before breaking out into an all out grin. "I see that we have an educated visitor today," came a voice from behind them. Seth jumped. Turning around he saw before him, Mr. Olivander himself in all his strange glory. "AH, Seth Wiles. I see that it is time for another of your family to join the ranks of wizards. And Mrs. Wiles. I understand that you yourself was once a witch. Are you here for a wand as well? Keep in mind that this shop can not be held accountable for the actions committed with a wand that we sell..." The implied statement seemed ominous to the boy who had only heard half of the conversation. Like he knew something that only Mr. Olivander and Seth's mother could ever hope to know or understand.  
  
"Nothing for me today thank you. But we need to see about Seth here." She ruffled his hair as the man chuckled. Seth wished that his sister were here. Even if she was annoying, mom never ruffled his hair if Michele was around. But She was next door with their father because she had gotten it in her head that she wanted robes of her very own. Seth knew that they would mostly be used for dress-up but if she was a witch too...  
  
"Well then, Mr. Wiles. Which is your wand hand?" Seth didn't know what he meant by this but his mother answered for him.  
  
"He's left handed." Mr. Olivander smiled and muttered something to himself before disappearing into the stacks of boxes. A moment later he came out.  
  
"AH! Try this. Willow, 12 inches with a dragon's heartstrings. Quiet supple. Good for the kind of wizard who doesn't always need a wand." Placing it in Seth hand he told him to: "Go on, give it a go!"  
  
Seth didn't move. "What you mean by not always needing a wand?"  
  
The old man's smiled faltered and his eyes flickered over to Mrs. Wiles. "Your mother knows about it. She can tell you. Go on, give it a wave already!" He seemed like a child waiting for a Christmas present.  
  
Seth did. With a flick of his wrist he began to feel a slow warmth spread up his arm and down his spine. A shower of blue and silver sparks spilled to the floor where they collected like a pool of water.  
  
"Oh! Wonderful! So glad to see that I haven't lost my touch! And to think it was the first one too!" He plucked the wand from Seth's hand and laid it in the box. "That'll be eleven galleons please."  
  
On the way out of the shop, Seth asked the question that had been burning in his mind. "Mom, What did he mean when he said to ask you about not using a wand?"  
  
She thought for a moment before responding. "There are a few witches and wizards who can do magic without a wand for some thing. I used to be able to do it. Most of them learn on a wand and develop into their magic. I never had a wand."  
  
"Maybe you should get one!" said the eleven year old as he ran off to the robe shop to tell his sister all about his new wand.  
  
Inside, they found the place nearly empty save for Michele and Jonathan Wiles. Michele was wearing a set of pink robes with black piping around the cuffs. When they entered she spun around to show them off and the lady who ran the shop smiled at her. Michele always did love to be the center of attention. So Seth smiled at her and Mrs. Wiles went over and cooed about how sweet she looked. Mr. Wiles had already paid his dues in that department so he led Seth over to the woman behind the counter.  
  
"Oh! Goodness! Another one for Hogwarts I suppose? Let's get started." And in only about twenty minutes Seth found himself all ready with his new uniform and, at the insistence of his mother, one set of plain blue robes to wear at other times. He didn't know what he'd need them for but took them any how.  
  
After that they set off for the book shop and then the pet shop where Seth picked up a tiny brown kitten with messy black markings making him look like he'd been hit with a falling can of black paint. He had Seth's same blue eyes and didn't meow but had a tendency to squeak instead. Mrs. Wiles thought he was adorable and wanted to name his something funny like Mr. Kitty or something like that but Seth decided to name him Puppy and would not be swayed from his decision. Michele thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.  
  
After that it was off to the last few shops and then they were ready to go home. And so that was the family trip to Diagon alley. On the ride home, Seth couldn't help but notice that his mother seemed much more excited about his impending school year.  
  
***  
  
Buffy had spent thirteen years alone. At 33 she was still the slayer but had come to realize that this meant even less to her than it once did. Instead of spending her time chasing them down, she spent it running from the forces of darkness that still threatened to take over the world. She left it to the new slayer. Some little girl in Turkey. Buffy had never met her and had no desire to. The slayer was her past and because she had left it behind, she suddenly found herself lacking a future.  
  
She was wary and her bones ached at night when she lay down to sleep. The wind kept her up most nights no matter what country or city she was in and on it was carried the voices of so many she had lost to her past as the slayer.  
  
Willow. She'd gone crazy when he'd shot Tara. Thinking that her girlfriend was dead, Willow had gone on a rampage soaking up all the evil magic she could find. From there it was history. She'd killed all three of them and then, in her guilt, disappeared without a trace. No one had heard from her and all of their efforts to find her had come up with one thing. She was either dead or really didn't want to be found.  
  
And Xander. He'd gone off to make himself a killing. In the oil business. He'd been digging with one of his construction crews out in Texas someplace and they'd struck oil. He was richer than Bill Gates at the moment. Something that would have once made Anya happy as a clam. But she'd been gone too long. She was already married to some rich computer geek by the time Xander struck it rich. She was fully human with a very human child on the way. Buffy tried to remember the kid's name but couldn't. It didn't really matter. Anya had never really been a part of the group.  
  
There was Tara who Buffy still heard from some times. She was working for some magic school. She was happy there with others like her but the memory of Willow still hung heavy on her mind. "It's not that I still love her like I once did, Buffy. Don't get me wrong. But I wake up sometimes and I can't help but wonder what might have happened if I'd never gotten shot. If it had ended just like any other battle with our local Big Bad. But we couldn't save he day every time could we?" He letters always seemed to find Buffy no matter where she was. It must have been a magical thing and the slayer never questioned it. She took comfort from them for they were her link to the real world such as it was any more.  
  
Spike had disappeared as well. She had no idea what had happened to the vampire but at times it made her wonder... just like Tara she couldn't help but think about what might have been. But there had been nothing there to begin with and Buffy knew she was playing the fool.  
  
But she was tired of wandering now. It had been so long and a recent letter from Tara had forced her to go back to LA if only to see what had happened. So there she stood the same as she had thirteen yeas before. The rain soaked her hair and clothes but she didn't notice as she watched the shadows move within the old hotel.  
  
Taking a deep breath she entered and ignored the stares of those waiting in the lobby. Gunn was at the desk trying to clam a woman down who was babbling on about some vampire in her house. He was having little luck but it sure looked as if Angel's little endeavor to help the hopeless was really paying off.  
  
She spotted Fred coming out of the back office with a stack of files in her hands. "Fred!" Buffy called. The girl was so startled that the files fell to the ground spilling out pictures of a few gruesome looking demons. A patron near-by gasped at them and Buffy bit back the urge to tell her it was a good demon.  
  
"Buffy? Buffy!" Fred cried. Relief washed over her face. She was swept into a hug and a dim part of her mind thought it prudent to mention her current wetness... from the rain you sickos! Ewww!  
  
"Umm... Guys..." For by this point Gunn had come over too and looked like he wanted to do the same as Fred. "Hi. Um.. what's going on?" And with that, things were set into motion. Gunn announced that they were closing and Fred pulled Buffy into the back office where the Host sat listening to old Frank Sinatra tapes.  
  
"Buff, we have something to tell you," said Fred once they had kicked the green demon out of the room. "Well, Angel left."  
  
"He left?"  
  
"Because Cordilia died."  
  
"She died?"  
  
"They were married you know."  
  
"Married?"  
  
"He went to England."  
  
"England?"  
  
Gunn was quickly getting sick of they way the two women were speaking. "Hello? Earth to the Slayer!" He waved a hand in front of her face to try and snap her out of it.  
  
"What? Oh. Sorry." She frowned and her brow was furrowed with the effort. "Thank you. England you said?" She stood and looked around with a slightly confused look on her face. She went for the door. "That you. Umm.. I'm sorry about Cordy. She was..." And without another word she was gone.  
  
She went right to the airport. Booking the next flight to England she was glad she had remembered to keep her bag with her though God knew that her clothes were all so terribly old now. She knew she'd have to go shopping before she met with him.  
  
As she was boarding the plane, it hit her that she had failed to ask what part of England Angle had left for and why.  
  
***  
  
The London airport was bustling with activity and Buffy wandered over to the baggage claim to get her bag. She was so lost in her thoughts that it went around the loop three times before she saw it but none of that mattered any more. Angel could be her's now. He'd loved her before. Maybe Cordy was some kind of rebound thing. Yeah, that was it.  
  
Turning around to exit the airport, she decided she'd take a cab to a cheap hotel and then figure stuff out from there. But she didn't get more than three steps in her given direction before she had bumped right into some one. "Oh, Sorry," she stammered. She looked the person right in the eye and was surprised to see a man there who stood at about her height. "Oz?"  
  
He looked at her. She was about to apologize again for thinking he was some one else but he siad her name and she smiled. "Buffy? Hi."  
  
"Wow, Oz! What are you doing here?" She felt like laughing.  
  
"They lost my luggage."  
  
She did laugh. "Always a man of many words aren't you?" He grinned and it brought back memories of the old scooby gang before... before.  
  
In the end, Buffy sat with him as he waited for his bags. He didn't know what exactly he was doing there or what he was supposed to do but he was determined to get his cure out to the populace of werewolves every where. Oh, he hadn't told her about that? Yes, He found a cure... Thank you.  
  
She was surprised to say the least but very happy for him. They both discovered that neither had anyplace to go and since both were quite poor they decided they should pitch in for a room together. "After all, we've been friends so long it's not like we're going to do anything." As Buffy so kindly pointed out.  
  
So that's what they did once Oz's bags showed up.  
  
***  
  
Angel had been to Hogwarts only once. He'd gone on a hunch from Drusilla that there were easy pickings. They'd been lucky to get out alive. Darla had never let him live it down.  
  
But this was a very different occasion though something told him that if his Sire were still alive and knew about this, he'd still have a hard time living it down. Darla was a very hard person to please. Always had been never would be any more.  
  
With a sigh, Angel hefted his bag up on his shoulder and made his way up to the gates of Hogwarts. His trunk would be delivered later. Weapons were too hard to carry through customs. Yes, things were defiantly looking up now. To think that in only one hundred years he'd gone from trying to kill the students of this institution and now he was going to teach them... "here's hoping that teaching them doesn't lead me to kill them," he muttered under his breath as he made his way up the hill to take his place as the next Defense against the dark arts teacher.  
  
TBC? You tell me V V V V 


	4. Trains and other such nonsense

darkmoon: duh Oz is in here! He's the best thing that ever happened to BtVS! I love me some Seth Green!  
  
Witchy-grrl: Yeah, I hate Angel/Cordy too. And Angel/Buffy. They were a cute couple and all but... no. I still don't know who all of my ships are going to be. Buffy/Oz maybe? Or not. Don't know yet.  
  
Smile 7499: Thank you. You made me smile. How sweet! I like the Harry parts better too but there are like none (almost) in this Chapter. I hope to get some more in very soon!  
  
Lia: All will be explained... I hope.  
  
Note: Thanks for all your reviews, guys. They mean so much as any author can tell you. Ok, so I wrote this chapter on the plane so any weird things I attribute to airplane air. It's all recycled and stuff... anywho: Just a reminder that this story does contain SLASH for the female kind so if that offends you, go fuck yourself elsewhere 'cause I don't care. I'm glad to see that most of you are mature enough to handle it. I've already begun the next part so it should be up by Weds. I hope. Oh, one more thing! Go join my yahoo group! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DifferentWorldfanfic now on with the fic!  
  
In the Shadow of the Willows   
  
Chapter three: Trains and other such nonsense  
  
  
The castle was much larger than Angel had remembered it being. Maybe it was the fact that now he had the time to take his time and wander the halls slowly. As it turned out, The headmaster of the school, one Albus Dumbledore, had been a seventh year student when Angel had attacked it with his merry band of vampires. He was even more surprised that he'd been hired after hearing this.   
  
But they both had a good laugh about it in the end, though neither was sincere about it, and Albus showed him to his rooms. Thus, Angel found himself wandering aimlessly about the halls trying not to think about his past. With a wary grin he recalled Buffy and her gang of 'Scoobies'.   
  
It was in the library that it came to him. The room was large and full of every musty old book imaginable. Giles would have loved it. It was just like a larger version of Sunnydale high. He could she that evening clear in his mind now. Xander and Willow were flirting while he sharpened stakes and she worked on the computer. Buffy was in the office arguing with Giles and Angel himself sat in that chair, just over there. Brooding as always. Xander had looked up from his carpentry to ask Angel a question about Willow's research. Something along the lines of ,"Have you ever heard of.....?" But He hadn't heard. So Xander took it upon himself to shout out across the room, "Hey! Broody dead guy!" Giles dropped his glasses which he had been cleaning and Buffy began to giggle. Willow scowled at them all while Xander looked pleased as punch. It was a rare moment of sanity before..... before everything.   
  
Before Angel left. Before Buffy died again. Before Willow and Oz Broke up. Before Willow figured out she was gay. Before Anya or Reiley. Before Jonathan came and tore their lives apart. Before he shot Tara. Before Willow went crazy and killed all three of them. Before Willow disappeared. She didn't ever stop to think. She'd just reacted. She had no idea that Tara was alive. AS far as Angel knew the young woman was still living. But Willow had run. Angel heard later that Anya almost killed herself when Xander left for some tiny town in Texas. Oz was long gone and Spike never did come back as far as anyone knew. He'd been sighted in Africa about that time but since then, not a word.  
  
With a sigh, Angel shook himself out of his reverie. He wouldn't think about it. This was his second chance at everything. At every dream he'd smashed. He wouldn't be just saving some randomly helpless soul on the streets. He would be teaching others to defend themselves and those around them. He could feel it in the air. These children were going to need that.  
  
A soft noise behind him raised the hairs on the back of his neck. In a movement almost too fast for a human to see, he had turned around and when he saw the face of his stalker, he had to check himself before he hauled off and strangled her.  
  
"Hello, Angel. Do remember me?" She looked just as he remembered her. She had hardly aged at all in the thirteen years since their one and only meeting. There were a few more lines about her yes and the robes were different than what she had worn but seemed to be suited to her more so than those muggle clothes ever had. He smiled at her.  
  
"I remember you, Tara." She smiled.   
  
"I hear you got saddled with the Defense against the Dark Arts job." Was she laughing at him?  
  
"Yeah. What are you doing here?" He didn't know what else to say.  
  
"I teach Charms. I have for almost ten years." Yep. She was most definitely laughing at him. She smiled a big smile and threw her arms around him. "It's so good to see you! I haven't hardly talked to any one from the old gang in so long! Buffy will be so glad to hear that I've heard from you!" Angel didn't know what to make of all of this. He hardly knew her and here she was hugging him like an old friend. But her eyes were still laughing with joy.   
  
"Buffy?" He asked after a moment.   
  
"Buffy," agreed Tara. Angel laughed. It was good to be welcome after so many years of having to trick people into inviting him in.  
  
  
September the first found Seth crammed into the backseat of his parents' car along with everything deemed necessary for him to go off the school. It seemed that somehow they had managed to smash a partridge and a pear tree in there as well but peering around the great box which held a mewing kitten, Seth could only see his little sister and mother in the front seat.   
  
His mother seemed slightly worried. "Now, I want you to write to me once a week, do you hear me?" This was the third time she'd asked him this. It wasn't so bad. She'd asked him how much underwear he'd packed only about a dozen times. Much to Michele's delight.  
  
King's Cross station seemed just a little bit bigger to the two children that day for it certainly wasn't the first time either of them had been there. Their father took to train to work each day and got off at King's Cross to transfer to a bus that let him off a little closer to his office. Jonathan Wiles had been taking Michele and Seth to work with him since they were little. But today, the familiar station looked just a little bigger, as I said. It was a little newer and little bit more exciting. Both of them kept looking here and there for the tale-tell signs of a witch or a wizard. But they saw nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
Suddenly realizing that he had never seen a platform 9¾, Seth's eyes widened as he asked his mother how he was expected to find a place he'd never seen before.  
  
"Well, The letter said that it was right through the barrier." She looked around. "Well, this must be it." Seth looked around. All he could see was a brick column. Just like any other around them. It was Michele who noticed it first. There, on that brick. Just about eye level for a child of eleven years, was a seemingly random scratch in the brick. But upon closer inspection, the ten-year-old had discovered that it resembled very much the wizard's hat which was required of all students entering Hogwarts! "This must be it then," said their mother. She placed her hand on the wall a little above the marked brick and found, to her amazement, that her hand went right through the wall! She quickly pulled it out and stared at it.   
  
"Mummy, can I go first?" Michele asked.   
  
"No, stupid. I should go first!"  
  
"Don't call your sister names, Seth. You can go together." She hesitated. "No. I'll go first." And with at she stepped through the column. The children stared at each other for a moment before following. Now this was what they had been searching for!  
  
People of all ages walked about. Some wore clothes like the Wiles Family was used to seeing but others wore robes and still others wore random bits of both wizard and muggle wear. And then there was the Hogwarts express! The huge red steam engine looked just the way it had to countless of first-years since it had been built nearly two hundred years ago.  
  
A large group of people with bright red hair walked in behind them. Seth watched as the father of the group clapped their mother on the shoulder. "Ginny! Didn't expect you'd be here today! I thought you had to work! Glad you could make it! We'll give Harlen and... Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were my little sister..." The got all flustered. Seth's mother laughed.  
  
"It's all right. I'm Willow." The man smiled at her.  
  
"My name's Charlie Weasley. I'm really sorry. I thought you were Ginny and what with the red hair and all... It's kind of a family trademark."  
  
Mrs. Wiles laughed again. "It's all right."  
  
The man spied the children almost hiding behind their mother. "So, which one of you two is starting this year? By the looks of things I'd say it were you, young man." Seth nodded. "Well," said Charlie. "My brother's son is starting this year and he doesn't know any one. I'll bet you don't either. Here. Let me introduce you." And so the great misunderstanding became a better thing than it wasn't. Charlie walked over to a very tall man who looked about the same age as Seth's mother. A tall boy with bright red hair followed when Charlie Weaseley and the tall man walked over. Tall Man introduced himself as Ron Weaseley and this was his son Harlen. They were both first years. The two boys smiled shyly at each other while the parents talked about the school.  
  
"Oh yeah, Ron here went to Hogwarts. He and Hermi and Harry. They ruled the school. I wish I coulda been there but I was gone by that time. My son's a fifth year now. Gryffindor." Mrs. Wiles was smiling as Charlie spoke and Seth wasn't sure he liked the look in her eye. But his younger sister chose that moment to ask the new boy a question.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
Seth rolled his eyes. "You heard what Mr. Weasley said. It's Harry."  
  
The boy wrinkled his nose at that. "No. Harry's my dad's friend. I'm Harlen. What's your name?"  
  
"I'm Seth. And this is Michele..." There was an awkward silence for a moment before Seth broke it. "What's Gryffindor?"  
  
And with that simple question, Harlen was off talking all about the houses and the founders. "And my Uncles Fred and George tried to tell me that you have to fight a ten foot mountain troll in front of the whole school with your eyes closed but Mum says all you do is put on a hat."  
  
Michele and Seth listened with wide eyes as the boy told them all about Hogwarts. "When my dad was there, there was this teacher, Snape, and he taught potions. Yeah and he was really mean!" But that was all he got out before the parents realized it was almost time for them to go. Seth hugged his mother and sister while Harlen did the same and then the two boys climbed onto the train.  
  
  
You have to marvel at the convince of modern travel. Only here in 2015 could it be possible for a plane to carry a person from New Orleans to London in the space of eight hours. Lucky for Spike too because it meant her could be on and off the plane in complete darkness. But that didn't leave him a lot of time to find a place to stay.  
  
But that didn't matter much. He still had his family's ancestral home just on the other side of the city. Taxi cab's ride away. He'd held onto the property for a few years after being turned but had lost it somewhere along the way. In a gamble or something. But he'd brought it back a few months ago. It was his by birth right after all and as the cab sped it's way trough the old parts of the city, Spike could almost see people he'd once known walking the streets.   
  
There was that same group of boys walking to church. Molestation by priests was by no means a modern thing and that group had not been raped. The priest let them do whatever they wanted to in the back room so long as he was permitted to join in. William had known what was going on. Emily told him. His sister made it her business to know everything.   
  
And just there, there was Cecely and her group of giggling friends. Each one of them dressed in the latest fashions as they made their way through the streets and wound their way down to the ice cream shop or to some party or ball. Hadn't it been Emily who first introduced him to the lovely Lady Winchester? Always had it been Emily who had drawn him out of his writings and into the real world.  
  
Just there was his mother. The Lady Holce. In her strictly heavy mourning which she wore after her husband's death until her own nine years later. She too was on her way to the church. To confess the sins of her two nearly grown children.  
  
Along side the cab, the little deaf boy who delivered their milk each morning ran after his dog as it sped down the street. He got run over by a carriage one night. It had been driven by some local boys coming home from a party at which they had all gotten thoroughly smashed. The boy's head and arm had both been found separate from his body and down the street a ways. But each of the young men were young lords and one was a duke so the whole thing was ignored.   
  
That was the way things happened back then. Girls in their long gowns and men with no respect for anything but power. William had grown up among the lesser royals of the city and had hated every moment of it. Emily said that all of them were bitter. Imagine. Being that Rich or royal and yet still not being invited to court! She was appalled by it though in her heart, Emily secretly wanted nothing more than to join them where they wouldn't have to pinch every last dime they had to buy nice clothes or keep the house. There was no money and many of their old clothes were simply altered to be a bit more fashionable. It was Emily's greatest shame.   
  
But Spike knew that those times were long past and that for all of their high ideals and high fashions, they were all dead. They had tried so damned hard to make a mark on the world and now each and every one of them was forgotten by the world at large save for one vampire whom they had all thought would never amount to nothing. Spike grinned in the darkness. "But look at me now, mates." And the cabby muttered to himself about the milk and eggs he had yet to pick up for his wife.   
  
  
Oz set out from the flat her shared with Buffy Summers about a week after they had moved in to find the Ministry of Magic. He had found the local wizarding community. It wasn't hard. If one knew what to look for, they were fairly obvious. This one seemed just like any other he had seen in Europe. After asking the barkeep how exactly to enter, Oz walked into the narrow alley ways to see what he could find.   
  
Most wizard cities had their ministry buildings right there in the shopping district but here it was different. The British wizards always seemed to be doing things differently. It was well established in the wizarding community that Britain held the top notch for everything magical and that was why Oz was here in the first place but he wasn't seeing what all the hype was about. The shops were the same but the prices were higher. The people wore the same robes but sans rips and rents. The voices were the same but they spoke English. Like Giles.   
  
Oz found that here, more people wore robes. In many communities he had visited, they wore muggle clothing just as often and Oz had always fit in with his baggy clothes. He hadn't changed that much since high school but he'd changed a lot since Sunnydale. He wondered, for a fleeting moment, if his old friends and aquntences would recognize him. But giving it no more thought than that, he continued on.  
  
Stopping only to buy a set of plain brown robes, Oz continued on. You can never have enough plain robes, he thought. They can keep you out of a lot of trouble.  
  
But no where could he find the local ministry. It was as if it had never been there. It was strange to see people congregating on the steps of the back in the place of any other hotbed of political activity. Once he had walked the whole alley from one end to the next, he went back to the pub and ordered a drink.   
  
He sat in a booth by himself in the back of the crowed room and watched as the patrons of the bar wandered in and out of the murky gloom. The old hag in the corner was watching him the same as he was watching her. Their eyes met for a moment and she stood up from her seat and hobbled over to his nearly empty booth. Oz watched every movement she made. The way she limped slightly. Putting most of her weight on her left leg every other step. The way her greenish brown hair hung in limp dreadlocks about her pale face. Her old and worn out robes so much like his own had been during the long months he had worked at the monastery. She was one who had no one to impress and so she cared little for the way she looked.  
  
She did not sit. She stood in front of the chair and kind of collapsed into it. It skittered backwards under her sudden weight but she did not bother to right it. Peering up into Oz's face he knew that she knew what he was. Or something like that. "Your kind don't come here often. Most are known and stay away."  
  
"I'm not from around here," he told her.  
  
"You reek of the slayer but they do not smell it. They were once as I am. I remember. I am older than I look just as you are younger than you look. They too could once catch the scent of a slayer and a wolf. But you do not look as if you have been in a fight. I smell no blood."  
  
"She's an old friend." The hag was really beginning to unnerve him.  
  
"You speak then, of the one they call Demon. In the underworld she is the bane and the master of all those wishing to be great. Strange don't you think. That the demon killer should be called demon yet she is friends with a wolf and a vampire... or two. What think you of this, Wolf?" She hissed the titles of both him and Buffy.   
  
"I think I must be going now." He stood up to leave but she grabbed his arm.  
  
"But you have not found what you sought." Her claw-like hands dung into Oz's skin and he could smell the blood beginning to pool beneath his skin. "I can help you find it. I know things the others will not say. Ask only what you came for. Then you may go."  
  
Sitting down and dropping his voice to a whisper, he asked his question. "Do you know where I ca find the ministry?" And she began to cackle. It was high pitched and carried through the gloom of the pub. People were beginning to stare.   
  
"So, is that all you seek? Do you not also seek the sun and moon. Only those invited and bidden are permitted there. You are mad, boy. Now go home to your Demon girl and sleep away your life for you have set upon a hopeless quest. Do not darken the door of my intelligence again by asking such."  
  
Oz was confused. "But why?" he asked.  
  
"Because, only those who have permission or chains about their necks get in there. Your kind have no hope." And she left with laughter on her lips.   
  
"Don't worry about it," the barkeep called. She's crazy. Here. Have one on me."  
  
"I'm all right, thanks." And Oz stood back up and went back into the alley. He stopped by the local Owl Office and put in an order for a subscription to the local wizards' newspaper. And then he went home. To his demon girl.  
  
  
When he got home, Buffy was sitting on the couch waiting her him. She was not really reading the magazine in her hand and when he opened the door she was there in a flash with a smile and a pout. Only Buffy could have pulled that one off.  
  
"Where were you? I was bored. I thought we were going to the zoo and you said we'd go when you came back but it's too late now."  
  
"I'm sorry. Things didn't go as I planned."  
  
"Well, where were you?"  
  
"I was in..."  
  
"And what on earth is that?" She pulled the robe out of his hands and picked the newspaper up off the floor where it had fallen. "A robe? And why are the people in the paper moving?" She seemed to think about that one for a moment. "Moving?! Oz what's going on?"  
  
Oz was surprised to find out that with all of Giles' teachings, he had never once mentioned the wizarding world. So he sat down to try and explain it to her. Keeping in mind that he had been followed the whole day once more. He wondered who or what this shadow was.  
  
  
Harlen Weasely and Seth Wiles made their way through the crowded passage of the train. Students were going in and out and running and screaming about this that and the other thing. The two boys watched them all as if they had completely lost it. Each and every one of them.  
  
Finally, they came to a compartment with a few other boys their own age and plenty of room for the two of them. "Can we sit in here?" Seth asked.  
  
"Sure," said a boy with wide brown eyes. His had messy black hair and tanned skin but it was his eyelashes you noticed first. They were long and every girl he met wanted them. "I'm Frederick Ordonez and this is Frank Veron and that's Josh Ford. We're all first-years." He pointed to a boy who looked very Italian and then to a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes and they each nodded in their turn.  
  
"Well, I'm Seth Wiles and this is Harlen Weaseley and we're both first-years too."  
  
"Cool," said Josh. "Do you know what house you'll bee in?"  
  
"Are you two related?" asked Frank at the same time.  
  
Seth and Harlen looked at each other. It was true, they could pass as relations. The both were taller than the other boys and both had red hair but where Harlen had green, eyes, Seth's were blue. "No, we just met at the station today." Seth grinned and so did the other boys.  
  
"I'm going to be in Gryffindor I hope. My whole family's been in that house forever!" said Harlen.  
  
"I don't know about the houses that well. Harlen was explaining t to me but I don't know which one I'll be in. None of them quite sound like they'd fit me."  
  
"That's OK," said Frederick. "I don't know what house I'll be in either. Maybe Ravenclaw like my dad and mom."  
  
At that time, fate deemed it necessary for the door to slide open once more and the boys looked up to see a girl standing there with long black hair and large gray eyes. "Hi," she said shyly. "Can I sit here?" The boys all nodded and moved over to make room for her. "My name's Mara. Mara Grey."   
  
Introductions were made and they all settled into a long conversation about Qudditch and muggles. Josh was muggle-born and so they all took great delight in telling both him and Seth as much as they could. Mara added little to the conversation but she seemed really smart when she did speak. But for the most part she sat in her seat by the door gazing out the window across the hall from the open door. And so went Seth Wiles' first ride to Hogwarts. But for one among them, it was to be their last.  
  
  
Hermione Granger was famous. Not just as a witch writing books on magical theory, but also as a muggle writing novels about magical places that every child and adult in the world wished to some day see. But for all her wealth and fame, Hermione was no happy. She was scared.  
  
Jessica had been her friend and lover for years and the thought of losing her sent her into a panic. Jessie would laugh and remind her that she had gotten on fine until they'd met but Hermione didn't agree. "I didn't know what I didn't have." To which Jessie had replied that love is not about love, if that was the case, but instead, it then became about need. "How's it different?" And Jessie had laughed.  
  
But now, Jessie didn't laugh as much. She didn't smile the way she had before. It wasn't a huge change but to Hermione, the change was infinitely greater. It was in the way her hand felt limp and the skin was tight and paper thin over her bird-like bones. It was in her eyes that seemed to drink up everything around her as thought it was the last time she'd every get to see them. It broke Hermione's heart to see her like that.  
  
But, there was an order to things in their relationship. They didn't talk about things like that. Death was too much of a foreign concept. It couldn't happen here. But it was. Looking down at the sleeping woman in her arms, Hermione wondered now why they had let it get this far without comment among themselves.   
  
Jessie opened her eyes but didn't move. Her dark eyes swept to room and came to settle on Hermione's face. "Hi," she said as she rolled over to face her.  
  
"Good morning."  
  
Jessie smiled. "It's afternoon as of about ten minutes ago. Or did you not hear the clock."  
  
Hermione returned the smile. "I was distracted." Jessie kissed her lips softly. "You're not helping." Jessica laughed softly into Hermione's hair.  
  
"Sorry, love." Cocking her head to the side, her eyes took on a more serious look. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"We need to talk." Hermione said at last.   
  
"I know. But can't it wait just a little longer?"  
  
"I wish it could but..." Tears were welling up in her eyes. "Jessie, I can't do this without you."  
  
"You'll do fine without me. And I'm not planning on going anywhere any time soon." Her eyes were clear and glassy but er voice was tight.  
  
"You know what I mean. We don't have forever any more."  
  
"We never did."  
  
"Jessie..."  
  
"I'm sorry Hermi. But some times I wonder if this whole this was a mistake. If we had chosen to never go on that second date. We knew when we started all this that it was only a matter of time. I wonder if I was fair to you... If I..."  
  
"No, don't say that! It was right. We go into life know we're all going to... die some day and still we live and we love and we learn. Jessie, it was right. It was love. It still is."  
  
"Now you sound like a writer. All dramatic and stuff. Hermi, I do love you. But was I just being selfish? Were we... Were we ever really convinced that we could beat this?"  
  
"No. To both. I love you so much. If any one was selfish it was me. I'm so sorry, Jessie!" And they held each other and they loved each other and for the moment, everything was all right.  
  
  
Seth had never seen anything like Hogwarts. Of all the magical things he had seen, this was by far the greatest. Looking up once more at the ceiling with its great expanse of purple sunset stretched out upon it. Harlen stood beside him with much the same expression of wonder on his face.  
  
The deputy Headmistress was calling out names and Frederick, Frank, Seth, and Harlen were the only ones from their train compartment left. Mara had been sorted into Ravenclaw and Josh was a Hufflepuff.  
  
"Ordondez, Frederick."  
  
"RAVENCLAW!"  
  
A few names later, Harlen became the only Gryffindor of their group and Frank became a Ravenclaw.  
  
"Wiles, Seth"  
  
Seth slowly mounted the steps and sat down on the stool. The hat was dropped over his eyes and a voice came on some place in the back of his head.  
  
"Ahh, I see that you have what others have lost! Well, you have certainly found it but do you want it is the question. No. Of course you don't. But where to put you? You are brave. That's for certain. And loyal as well. But not enough ambition to make in Slytherin. Oh, but what is this? Yes, now I see! For you it has to be... RAVENCLAW!" 


	5. Meetings and Musings

In the Shadow of the Willow  
Chapter Four: Meetings and Musings  
  
SillyBanna: Thank you for the exatly one review I got. ot meant a lot to me. Glad to hear that you are open to the slashy bit of my fic and don't worry, Willow and Tara will find out about each otehr soon enough! Thank you. This chapter's all for you!  
  
Dis: I don't own Buffy, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings which I have decided to add. As with BtVS and HP, I will be messing withe the timelines a lot. That'll all get explained better later on.  
  
Note: please review or I won't post any more here.  
  
Professor Liam Ryan sat at the high table that evening watching in wonder as the tall boy with bright red hair was sorted into Ravenclaw. To say it was an unexpected surpirse is an unerstatment. Ture, there had been anoher boy who looked very similar, but there was something about this you man named Seth Wiles that made him think of some one he'd once known. It was there in the tilt of his head and the way his blure eyes took in everything with a nivie wonder. Then it hit him, Willow! He looked like Willow! Trying not to look like he was gossiping with another teacher he lened over to Tara.  
  
"He could almost be Willow's son." She looked up at him in surpisrse and then he eyes ilkered over to the boy on the stool.   
  
"RAVENCALW!" shouted the sorting and Tara grinned.  
  
"If it is, he must have inherited her brain." Angel smiled but all throughout dinner, he couldn't stop looking at the boy. Tara too was having a hard time tearing her eyes away. The lightness of thei words belied the fact that, in their hearts, they so wished that it could be her son. A sign that she was alive. At least elven years ago. And as he sat there wit his new friends and housemtes, Angel couldn't help but marvel at the wonders of genitics.  
  
***  
  
Mrs. Wiles sat sown at the kitchen table on the morning of Spetember the second with a letter in her hand. When the owl had flown in her window late last night, she had thought only the worst but upon reading the letter over, once franitcly and another time a bit slower, she found that it was only a letter from her son. But now it was morning and she was realizing how much she missed having the little boy come bouning into her room in the morning with his sister tagging along behind. But Michele was still aslepp and Seth was off at school. Settling down in her chair with a cup of tea (how very Giles of her), she began to read:  
  
Dear Mum,  
  
Wow! Hogwarts is so cool! I got sorted into Ravenclaw. They say that all the really smart people go there. I mean here. Harlen (you know, the boy from the trian station) he's in Gryffindor. There are two other boys in my dorm. There's Frank and some kid named Mark matherson. He's strange. But Fredrick and Frank are really neat! They both have owls so I'm borwing Fred's. He says his older brothers can send a letter to his mum tonight. He'll send it tomarrow. He fell right to sleep but I'm too excited.  
  
Mark has a toad. Puppy tried to eat him at first but he stopped that. How's Michele and dad? How are you? I miss every one! Tell ichele that I'll sendher some chocolate frogs but I don't have any left. I ate them all on the train. (Only thre. Don't worry!) Anywasy, It's really late now and every one's alseep. I can't wait for class tomarrow. We have this one teacher, Proffesor Ryan, he's cool looking. I don'' know why. And he was talking to the Charms teacher but I don't know her name yet. I'll tell you all about my teachers next time. Every one's saying that the two of them are going out. Eww... I don't want my teachers to be kissing... Well, I guess it's ok if they don't do it in class... I really miss every one and Puppy says meow!  
  
Love, Seth  
  
And Willow smiled.  
***  
  
  
  
Seth went into charms class the next morning firmly convinced that it wouldn't be his favorite class. That spot was held special by Defense ginst the Dark Arts because he got to take the class with his new best friend, Harlan Waesley.. But Charms did sound like a lot of fun. Professor McCaly seemd to be about his mother's age. She as taller, though, and pretty for a teacher. She smiled alot but her eyes semed sad.  
  
"Today we are going to begin with the basic levatation charms. Now then..." ANd the class began. She gave no room for agument or anything. She was repsected right from the get-go and that's the way it had always been in her class.  
  
But as she began her class that day, her eyes drifted over to where one of the Ravenclaw boys sayt. Seth Wiles. Angel was right, he could almost be Willow's son. In fact, the thught stuck with her and throughout the entire lesson, she kept one eye on the red-head. It was the most inatentive she had ever been while teaching. But there was something in his smile when he'd come into the room and there was that was he laughed when she'd told a small joke earlier. He was almost Willow herself only... there was something so very different about him. It was deep in his blue eyes. No one had eyes like that any more. Those were the type of eyes one saw in ancient painting of elves before fifth age of man. Not any more. Not almost a million years later. So She watched him all through class and he he walked out the door, he looked over his shouder and in those eyes, she could see that he had not failed to notice her watching him. He knew... But what did he know?  
  
***  
  
Seth saw Harlan just as he was coming out of the room across the hall. "What class did you have?" Seth asked his new friend.  
  
""History of Magic. It was so boring. When do you have it?"  
  
"Tomarrow. I just had Charms. The teacher's good but she's a little weird."  
  
"Come on. We better hurry if we don't want to be late," said Fredrick coming up behind them. Mora Grey pushed passed them as they tried to get by. "Gee, wonder what's got her in a twist."  
  
"She stayed up half the night reading that huge book in the common room. Any one'd be grumpy." Seth rooled his eyes as he said it. Harlan got a strange light in his eyes.  
  
"And how do you know she was up all night? Seth, you have something you want to share with the rest of us?"  
  
"Eww, you're sick!" said Fredrick playfully.  
  
"Yeah, you are. But if you must know, she told me. At great lenghth. This morning at breackfast. She was reading about Harry Potter. Hey, isn't that your dad's friend?"  
  
"Yeah, he was. He left and Dad's real mad at him. Come one, here we are."  
  
The pushed their way into the class room talking about little things. Fredrick had changed the subject to Quidditch and Harlan was going on excitedly about how his whole family had played ont eh house team at one point. Even his older cousin was going to be on it this year.  
  
The teacher stood at the head of the class watching them come in and checking his watch he called for silence. "Alright, class, my Name is Prfoosor Ryan. In this class we will be studying demons, such as vampires and all the myth and lore concering them. And we'll also be getting into some history. Not the same kind you have studied or will be studying in Prfessor Binn's class but the kind before the fifth age of man." A few hands shot in the air. "Yes, Miss... Grey."  
  
"What's the fifth age of man, sir?" Her eyes sparkled with teh need to know and Angel could almost see a young Willow Rosenburg looking out at him.  
  
"The world is devided up into Seven basic ages. The seventh and the sixth are the two that the muggle world calls BCE and AD. Before that, the earth exsisted almost to the point we are living now. That is to say that that was the first beginning. But then, there were many great wars because, you see, while this world was much like our own, there was very little peace. So these wars tore the world apart and it all had to begin again. But we'll get more into that later in the year. If you really want to know, you can come see me after class."  
  
Mora looked excited about this. Harlan leaned over. "A whole Galeon says she stays after class." Seth didn't even bother answering. Fredrick tried very hard not to laugh.  
  
"Well then, now for today's lesson plan. Today we're going to be studying something kid of fun. I say kind of because there's always a cathc with demons. I don't care how fun they sound. The peticular demon we'll be studying today is called Sweet, the singing demon." A few kids laughed but Angel continued. "He can be called by..." And so, by the end of the class, he had the entire class hanging on his every word. But he sent them on their way with warning of how badly things could go and they filed talking excitedly about the demon in question. And Angel watched as Seth left the room...  
  
***  
  
Oz made his way out into the world again the next day. This time, it was not to seek out the ministry or it's people, it was to think. Buffy was driving him crazy with her frantic decorating even after he reminded her that she too had come here for a porpuse. "Yeah, but I don't know what that is just yet." she'd said. So while she was hanging new curtains, Oz made his way through the streets of the city. The wind was blowing a little colder than yesterday and the sky spoke of rain but he didn't care. He needed to get out.  
  
Spying a small pub off to his left, Oz made tracks for it if only to warm his hands for a moment. And yet, when he walked in the door, He felt it right off. That wips of power across his face hit him like a slap and the other man looked up with his eyes slightly narrowed. Oz gave a small smile to show he meant no harm and made his way over. Sitting down, neither said anything but gave eachother aprising looks. A waitress took his order for a gin and coke and Oz watched as the older man cocked his head to the side. "You're not from around here are you?"  
  
Oz had to smile. "No." But nothing eles. The stranger waited until the waitress had brought Oz's drink before he spoke again.  
  
"Well, do you come with ill-will?"  
  
"No, I come with nothing at all save the clothes on my back the girl in my flat."  
  
The other werewolf cuckled. "I'm Remus Lupin." He extented a hand to the starnger.  
  
"Oz," siad siad person... err... werewolf.  
  
"Nice to meet you. But not many weres coming into England or Eroup for that amtter any more. I take it you haven't heard of the round ups?"  
  
"No, I'd heard. But I found something that could change that."  
  
Remus raised an eye brow. "And what might that be?"  
  
Oz debated how much to tell him. Deciding that the more wolves that knew, the better chance he'd have at tehis crack pot idea. "I found a way to keep comtrol of the transformations," he said in a low voice.  
  
"You mean like wolfsbane?"  
  
"No. I found a way so you don't change at all. took me sixtten years."  
  
Remus gave off a low wistle. Oz smiled. 'I think I've made me a friend.' he hought as he began to quicetly tell the stranger al about it.  
  
***  
  
The fog was closing in just a scant inch closer with each passing year. They grew thicker and the peoples left int eh gray havens had found that as time went on, they had less room in their undying land then they had in centuries past. Many had considared goiing out once more into the world to see how it had changed. Spies that they sent out though rally came back and those that did brought only tidings of a world so different that it was almost better to stay in the land which grew ever small.   
  
This was the home of the elves. The undying ones of old. Here too dweled the dwarves and hobbits. The wizards had long ago disppeared from the gray havens and the three culters of beings took a portaion of the land as their own. They rarly interacted but some had closer ties than others and the remainder of what was once known as the fellowship of the ring dwelled there in the highest form of peace.   
  
But the encroachment had begun to cause much unrest. The people grew fearful that one day it might swallow them each whole. So more spies were sent out into the real world. They began to amass any knowlage they could. They began to learn that if they went a certain way through the forest, the came upon a grand castle and from these woods they could venture out into a land called England. The people of the gray havens rejoiced at this the the fellowship, who had begun to get a bit restless, decided that they too should go out into this new world.   
  
On top of the encroching mists, they could feel a great evil stiring in the wind. The eldest beings there said it was nothing like they had ever felt. A great stiring of darkness. It was determined that a new fellowship should be formed to set out from their lands and find what it was. And, should it pose any great threat to thier own world, the elves of what was once middle-earth, would go and fight this great evil.  
  
So they set out on November the twenty ninth by Shire reconing. Two elves, two hobbits and the only man yet breathing in the gray havens.  
  
TBC......? 


End file.
